Chapter 7: The A-rank party falls into decline
{TL: By Creed}
On that day, Sigurd and his party were attempting to conquer a dungeon.
The dungeon they were challenging was ranked as C.
For Sigurd and his A-rank party, it should have been an easy victory, but...
"Damn, this is so annoying!"
Sigurd shouted in frustration, swinging his sword with great strength, cutting multiple monsters in half simultaneously.
However, more and more monsters kept appearing, their numbers seeming to be on the verge of a stampede.
"Argh, they just won't stop coming!"
"Indeed... Even low-rank monsters can be troublesome when they gather in such numbers," said Mira.
Mira and Lector fought desperately, but the reinforcements seemed to arrive faster than they could defeat the monsters. Gradually, they were being pushed back.
"Ugh, why are there so many monsters... Hey, Lector! Could this be a stampede?"
"No, there's absolutely zero chance of that. I've never heard of a stampede occurring within a dungeon."
"Then maybe it's a Monster House?"
"That's unlikely too... As you can see, this is just an ordinary corridor. Monster Houses are typically found in larger areas."
"So, why are all these monsters appearing then, damn it?"
Until now, there had never been such a large number of monsters appearing, and now they were overwhelmed. What had changed?
The difference was whether Fate was present or not.
Even if Fate himself was unaware of it...
With his overwhelming physical abilities, Fate appeared as an incredibly powerful opponent to the monsters.
That human was dangerous.
At a glance, it was clear that he was a monster.
He was absolutely unbeatable.
The monsters, recognizing this, feared him and did not approach.
So, until now, only the bare minimum of monsters had appeared.
But now, Fate was absent.
Sigurd, Mira, and Lector were being attacked by monsters who saw them as manageable opponents.
"Uh-oh, Sigurd! Shouldn't we retreat? At this rate, we'll get overwhelmed."
"Ugh... failing to conquer a C-rank dungeon like this..."
"Sigurd, it's not what we'd prefer, but..."
"Damn it! We're retreating! Hey, you be the rear guard..."
As usual, Sigurd was about to have Fate act as a decoy, but he realized Fate wasn't there, and he grumbled.
They needed rearguard.
However, no one wanted to take on the dangerous role.
As the three of them thought about this, they ended up with various injuries, and it took more than twice the usual time to retreat from the dungeon.
"Haah, haah, haah... Finally, we're out."
"Ugh... This is really bad. I might actually die..."
"Yeah... Not only did we use up our weapons, but our exploration items are running low. We've used them all up, so we need to restock."
"More importantly, we need to tend to our injuries. Hey, you... oh, damn. He's not here."
Out of habit, Sigurd called for Fate and then made a bitter face.
This was the second time.
Somehow, Fate was blamed for everything, even though he had nothing to do with it.
Within Sigurd, this had become the norm, and he didn't question it.
"Ugh, it's frustrating. It's a shame we don't have a punching bag right now."
"Indeed. Useless had a role, in his own way, didn't he?"
"Who cares about Useless? I'm starving."
"Lector, food?"
"..."
"Hey, don't tell me..."
"Sorry. Since Useless always handled the preparations..."
"Damn."
After the second mistake, Sigurd made a genuine groan.
However, he, too, was overlooking things. As the party leader, checking and confirming things was his responsibility. Neglecting it meant he had no right to blame his comrades.
"That useless guy is indeed useless, but It's a pain to deal with everything once he's gone... Ugh, why do we have to do these chores?"
"Yeah, I agree completely. This isn't the kind of work we should be doing."
"We have our own duties to attend to. Low-level tasks like chores should be left to slaves or something."
They weren't even performing those low-level tasks properly, but they complained without realizing it.
"Sigurd, I have a suggestion... Shouldn't we go back and fetch Useless?"
"That's true... having someone for chores is necessary. But what do we do? The slave contract was severed, and the Sword Saint is with Useless."
"Don't worry; leave it to me."
Lector had a sly grin on his face.
TL Note: The next chapter might get delayed by a day or two as I have to attend to something in Real Life.
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